Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Peter Svidler Defeated Topalov - Round 5 Candidates Tournament 2014

Among eight chess players fighting in the 2014 FIDE Candidates tournament, it's probably already filtered out half of it as potential winner. As the tournament in Khanty Mansiysk reach round 5, Vishwanathan Anand still the leading player, but Peter Svidler now joins Aronian and Kramnik as the half point guys behind Anand. Peter Svidler is the only player received full points in round 5, his game against Topalov was highly tactical, Svidler as white did not handled the opening accurately but as Topalov strangely moves his king into mating zone, Svidler was able to get the full benefit and won. In the end, both agree “Not in any best game collections. For both of us to be honest,” said Svidler. All the other games finished a draw.

Kramnik vs Aronian is the best draw, with Aronian as the defensive side. The final endgame was well played by Aronian and even Kramnik happy about the outcome of this split point. Kramnik: “I cannot say I'm disappointed. The quality of the game is important to me and this game was very interesting.”In opposite, Andreikin vs Anand left many spectators puzzled when Anand agree a draw. One of them is GM Emil Sutovsky who in the Facebook said "Quick shocking" that Anand probably still have enough to play on a bit further. On Karjakin vs Mamedyarov, both quickly exchange pieces and draw in required 30 moves over Sicilian defense. Mamedyarov pointed out that both are in -1 standing, so the opening choice is understandable. Chess viewer courtesy of chess.com